Garage Door

I'm with Ron on this one. I have installed many a garage door and openers. I never use any lube on the tracks themselves. I do lube the wheels IF they do have roller bearings in the wheels and then only a few drops of a light-weight oil. The 3-in-1 oil is good IMO. As far as maintenance: I have three doors of my own. On an annual schedule I clean the door tracks, lube the wheels, release the door drive unit and test the door for balance, clean and lightly lube the guide rod ( I know, it's old), and adjust the chain drive if needed. I also wash the doors inside and out. I don't like a dirty door. The door on the home garage, and 8' high x 12' wide was installed in 1991. The two on my shop, 10' high x 12' wide, were installed in 1996, and I have had now problems with them since. These are also insulated doors and quite heavy, but well worth the monies as the home garage door faces west.

Garage Door

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thurman

I'm with Ron on this one. I have installed many a garage door and openers. I never use any lube on the tracks themselves. I do lube the wheels IF they do have roller bearings in the wheels and then only a few drops of a light-weight oil. The 3-in-1 oil is good IMO. As far as maintenance: I have three doors of my own. On an annual schedule I clean the door tracks, lube the wheels, release the door drive unit and test the door for balance, clean and lightly lube the guide rod ( I know, it's old), and adjust the chain drive if needed. I also wash the doors inside and out. I don't like a dirty door. The door on the home garage, and 8' high x 12' wide was installed in 1991. The two on my shop, 10' high x 12' wide, were installed in 1996, and I have had now problems with them since. These are also insulated doors and quite heavy, but well worth the monies as the home garage door faces west.

How do you test the door for balance and how do you adjust?

Do you know whether HD sells replacement springs? I heard from a the contractor who was working on my neighbor's door that springs are rated based on load, and he estimates that my door weighs 100 lbs. He gave me sticker shock when he told me that he charges $599 for maintenance on a garage door, and I have two of them.

Garage Door

You need to lube the springs too. I use a light lubricant like wd-40. Heavy greases linger and attract dust, which will only add to wearing out the springs. On the wheels I use lithium grease. You should only have to do this once a year.

$599 for maintenance sounds awful high unless it's for a 10 year period or something. I think I paid around $1400 for a 9' single and a 9' double installed.

Garage Door

Quote:

Originally Posted by WirelessG

You need to lube the springs too. I use a light lubricant like wd-40. Heavy greases linger and attract dust, which will only add to wearing out the springs. On the wheels I use lithium grease. You should only have to do this once a year.

$599 for maintenance sounds awful high unless it's for a 10 year period or something. I think I paid around $1400 for a 9' single and a 9' double installed.

This maintenance supposedly includes replacing the wheels and the springs.

Garage Door

Handi,
That still sounds like a lot of money. Around here, I charge $120.00 to replace a pair of springs on a torsion setup on a residential door. Rollers would add another $40.00. Like the others said, don't grease the rails. You can check your door for balance by releasing the opener, then raise the door about halfway by hand. It shouldn't require a lot of effort and it should stay at around half way up by itself. If it falls back down, the springs need to be wound a hair tighter, if it wants to go up pretty quick without balancing around half way up, the springs have too much tension. Don't try to adjust them yourself. Find another garage door guy in your area that is more reasonable.
Mike Hawkins

Garage Door

As mentioned above. Do not touch springs unless you are familiar with what you are doing. Many a homeowner/DIY person has been injured by door springs. Remember a garage door is the heaviest moving object in your home. If you adjust anything know exactly what your doing.

As an employee of a manufacturer years ago and a full time installer as well, I use a light oil for the roller bearings only as well as hinges. Grease attracts dirt and dust that you have to clean off before it globs on your car. Don't put anything on the outside of the roller or in the track. They run dry and require no lube. Keeping things clean and free moving is a yearly maintenance must do.

A balanced door (without the opener attached) should remain stationary at apprx half way open. Lift the door up manually and let go at waist high. If the door closes or flies open then it's not balanced. Meaning, the springs are to tight or to weak. Shop for an authorized dealer in your area and get a couple quotes before you do any spending.

Garage Door

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shamus

As mentioned above. Do not touch springs unless you are familiar with what you are doing. Many a homeowner/DIY person has been injured by door springs. Remember a garage door is the heaviest moving object in your home. If you adjust anything know exactly what your doing.

As an employee of a manufacturer years ago and a full time installer as well, I use a light oil for the roller bearings only as well as hinges. Grease attracts dirt and dust that you have to clean off before it globs on your car. Don't put anything on the outside of the roller or in the track. They run dry and require no lube. Keeping things clean and free moving is a yearly maintenance must do.

A balanced door (without the opener attached) should remain stationary at apprx half way open. Lift the door up manually and let go at waist high. If the door closes or flies open then it's not balanced. Meaning, the springs are to tight or to weak. Shop for an authorized dealer in your area and get a couple quotes before you do any spending.

What do maintenance techs do to ensure that each spring has the same amount of force to pull the garage door up straight?

I'm an engineer and I'm handy around the house and I've repaired one of my springs when the rung snapped. That's one of the safety features of the springs where they run a metal wire through the spring to make sure there's no kickback in case a rung breaks and someone's nearby.

I happen to have both lithium grease and 3-1 oil, so which one would you recommend for oiling the hinges and wheel bearings?

Garage Door

Handi,
From what you are describing, you have side extension springs, as opposed to torsion spring, which is mounted on a rotating shaft mounted above the door. Extension springs can easily be adjusted by raising the door all the way up and using a vise grip to clamp the bottom roller to the track. To increase or decrease tension on each spring, move the front hook that is attached to the cable to a different hole position on the upper horizontal track. To get the door to run up and down straight, adjust one side or the other to either add a little tension to the side of the door that is a little lower than the other when going up, or take off a little tension on the side that is travelling higher than the other. It's really just a little hit and miss. The 3 in 1 oil would work fine on the roller bearings and hinges. Don't overdo it.
Mike Hawkins

The Following User Says Thank You to firehawkmph For This Useful Post:

Garage Door

Quote:

Originally Posted by firehawkmph

Handi,
From what you are describing, you have side extension springs, as opposed to torsion spring, which is mounted on a rotating shaft mounted above the door. Extension springs can easily be adjusted by raising the door all the way up and using a vise grip to clamp the bottom roller to the track. To increase or decrease tension on each spring, move the front hook that is attached to the cable to a different hole position on the upper horizontal track. To get the door to run up and down straight, adjust one side or the other to either add a little tension to the side of the door that is a little lower than the other when going up, or take off a little tension on the side that is travelling higher than the other. It's really just a little hit and miss. The 3 in 1 oil would work fine on the roller bearings and hinges. Don't overdo it.
Mike Hawkins

Yes, I do have extension springs.

My other garage door hung up once because one rung of the extension springs broke off from the hook when I tried to open the door. Luckily I didn't get hurt when I finally released the door and the door came crashing back down to earth.

I understand what you are saying, but prying open a rung in order to fit the hook in isn't as easy as it looks, but doable. You just need a sharp flat head screwdriver and hope you don't gouge your eye out.

Before messing with the springs, I'm going to try the garage door halfway test. Also, the garage door may need some lubing since I hear squeaking coming from the wheels/hinges when the door opens and closes.

Garage Door

Quote:

Originally Posted by handy man88

This maintenance supposedly includes replacing the wheels and the springs.

Call around and get pricing. I think you'll find that it's not that pricey. And you don't need a maintenance agreement anyhow - just call them when you need them. Like Hawk said - it's a hundred or so for the tune up, bit that's only when you need it.

Garage Door

I agree with WirelessG, it's best to call around and ask for pricing about the job before attempting to do it yourself. From what I gather it shouldn't be an extremely expensive job to undertake and you should get reasonable rates for it as well.